Two states (AR and IA) have completed the congressional redistricting process and a third (LA) has sent their maps to the Department of Justice for approval under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. A different story is unfolding in a few other states where a Governor’s Veto has already occurred (VA), a serious threat of a lawsuit has been given (TX), a federal court hearing has occurred (MS), a legislature controlled by opposite parties cannot compromise (CO) and a legislature controlled by the same party cannot compromise either (MO).

With that intro, here are some redistricting updates since last week’s article:

Alaska

Hearings on proposed maps will end on May 6. Drawing legislative maps that fairly represent Juneau and the rest of the state will be a key focus.

California

The inaugural redistricting committee is holding meetings around the state and is expected to release a draft set of maps by June 20. Following additional public meetings, the committee is expected to approve the final maps by August 15.

Colorado

The possibility of the Colorado Supreme Court drawing the congressional maps has grown this week since Democrats and Republicans in the State Legislature cannot comprise on what the seven districts will look like. Bipartisan talks have also broken down. In the end, look for the footprint representing the fastest growing areas of the state to shrink – suburban Denver, Colorado Springs and Boulder.

Idaho

The Idaho Redistricting Commission is expected to hold their first meeting on June. They will then have 90 days to submit a congressional and state district plan to the State Legislature for approval.

Mississippi

With a June 1 qualifying candidate deadline for 2011 state legislative races, the redistricting fight has moved from the legislature to a federal courthouse. The MS Attorney General wants the maps already debated, but not passed, by the House and Senate to be used in this year’s elections. This AG also does not want to have a special election under new maps before the end of this four-year term that ends in 2015. While the outcome of the court challenge initiated by the NAACP is unclear, there is a reasonably good chance you can put MS in the category of having elections (or additional elections) this decade under multiple maps.

Missouri

There may be no other state where the fight is as public and ugly as it currently is in MO. Look for Republicans, who control the House and Senate, to get their act together in the closing days of the legislative session and approve maps. While the timeline to override a Governor Nixon (D) veto during this legislative session may have passed, the legislature will still have the opportunity to do so before any 2012 elections take place.

Oklahoma

In a redistricting process completely controlled by Republicans, all five congressman (four Republican, one Democrat) have agreed to the map passed in the House. A strong signal this will be the map signed to go into effect.

Texas

I will keep saying this – keep your eyes on Texas. Hispanics, conservatives and Democrats are all upset at the Republican drawn map. Texas is a Voting Rights Act state and how the process concludes here may not be clear for some time.

Virginia

The gamesmanship has been taken to a higher level in the past week. House Republicans are not happy with Governor Bob McDonnell (R) and the Senate Democrats appear willing to comprise, but action needs to happen soon to keep the August 23 primaries on schedule.

States that have completed congressional and/or state redistricting process:

Completed congressional and state legislative redistricting:Completed congressional and state legislative redistricting and are waiting on approval from the Department of Justice due to compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965:

IALA

Completed only congressional redistricting:States that have completed only state legislative redistricting:

AR-

We have also updated our map detailing redistricting control in each state:

We expect the steady flow redistricting updates to continue as several states are deep in their legislative process, commissions are beginning their work and challenges are starting to emerge. We will continue to update you on the states we have already highlighted and will present new states in the coming weeks.